Filed under: Sedan , SUV , Truck , Recalls , Safety , Hatchback , Toyota Was your Toyota inspected under the company’s recall campaign for faulty airbag inflators last year? You might have another trip ahead to have it repaired again. The automotive giant says that it found “the involved serial numbers provided by the supplier were incomplete, and did not include all of the potentially involved inflators,” according to its official announcement. That means more replacements are needed. Toyota’s April 2013 inflator recall covered the Corolla , Matrix and Tundra from the 2003 and 2004 model years, the Sequoia from 2002 to 2004 and the Lexus SC 430 from 2002 to 2004. At the time, the company said it would need to inspect about 510,000 vehicles in the US but only expected to replace around 170,000 inflators. However, the latest announcement increases that figure to about 766,300 vehicles in the US. Toyota spokesperson Cindy Knight told Autoblog that the new amount is the combination of owners who need to have their vehicle looked at again and those who didn’t come in for the initial recall. The company learned about the problem when Takata, the supplier, provided it with an improved list of the faulty part’s serial numbers. According to The Detroit News , the latest recall affects about 2.27 million vehicles from them worldwide .

Filed under: Truck , Toyota , New Car Reviews The Toyota Tundra is the automotive version of off-brand Cheerios: it doesn’t dominate the market, and it’s not the first model people think of when they hear the term “pickup truck.” Ford , General Motors and Ram dominate the segment with vehicles that offer ridiculous levels of towing and payload capacities and models loaded with luxury items and primed with tech-rich engines. The off-brands, meanwhile, are led by the Tundra, which while still accounting for six-figure sales (112,732 units in 2013, up from 101,621 in 2012), sits well behind the F-150s and Silverados of the world. After our first drive of the revamped 2014 Tundra , we came away thinking this truck is a total underachiever, aimed at placating Toyota loyalists and doing little to win over new customers. But everybody deserves a second chance, and we thought a week’s drive in a different environment might lead to a different – or at least a more fully realized – opinion. While the Tundra might not be an industry leader, it still makes it on many truck buyers’ shopping lists. So, should you consider this off-brand pickup truck? To find out, we borrowed a top-of-the-line Tundra Platinum for a week. Read on to see what we found. Continue reading 2014 Toyota Tundra Platinum 4×4 2014 Toyota Tundra Platinum 4×4 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 26 Feb 2014 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .

Filed under: Truck , Chevrolet , Chrysler , Ford , GM , GMC , Nissan , Toyota , Ram Car buyers have a responsibility to be well-informed consumers. That’s not always a very simple task, but some guidelines are self-evident. If you live in a very snowy climate, you generally know a Ford Mustang or Chevrolet Camaro might not be as viable a vehicle choice as an all-wheel drive Explorer or Traverse , for example. If you want a fuel-efficient car, it’s generally a good idea to know the difference between a diesel and a hybrid. But what if it’s kind of tough to be an informed consumer? What if the information you need is more difficult to come by, or worse, based on different standards for each vehicle? Well, in that case, you might be a truck shopper. For years, customers of light-duty pickups have had to suffer through different ratings of towing capacities for each brand. For 2015 model year trucks, though, that will no longer be a problem. According to Automotive News , General Motors , Ford and Chrysler Group have announced that starting with next year’s models, a common standard will be used to measure towing capacity.

Filed under: Chicago Auto Show , SUV , Truck , Toyota , Off-Road With a rich history of creating off-road worthy trucks and SUVs and a somewhat bland impression of its brand overall, Toyota has wisely created a line of TRD Pro Series vehicles to spice up its showrooms and newly engage customers. Debuting at this year’s Chicago Auto Show before rolling into dealers this fall, the TRD-tuned vehicles include the 4Runner , Tacoma and Tundra , all with added rough-road gear and amped-up looks. The TRD Pro Series trucks might end up, in many cases, as lifestyle accessories for outdoorsy types, but that doesn’t mean they’re all show. TRD springs and Bilstein dampers are set up for off-road performance, while skid plates will protect the softish underbellies of these would-be rock-crawlers. The trio all get lifted over stock height, as well, with two-inch gains for the Tundra and Tacoma (lovingly referred to as “Taco Supreme” in the Toyota press release), and an inch-and-a-half rise for the 4Runner. We detailed all of the changes to the Pro Series vehicles in our original announcement post , and you’ll also find more granularity of information in the Toyota press release below . Before you dive in, however, be sure to take in our set of live, action-packed images from the Chicago Show floor. Continue reading Toyota demos its TRD Pro Series line [w/video] Toyota demos its TRD Pro Series line [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 07 Feb 2014 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Filed under: Chicago Auto Show , Truck , Toyota , Design/Style , Off-Road To the general public, Toyota is often thought of as a maker of bland but dependable cars, crossovers and SUVs that get their owners and a whole herd of whatever from Point A to Point B. Generally speaking, they’re fuel efficient, comfortable and affordable. What the general public may not realize, however, is that Toyota enjoys a very strong history of going off road, too. The legendary Land Cruiser arguably established the trend, helping explore remote parts of the globe, while various guerilla warfare outfits and world military branches have unwittingly joined up with the boys from Top Gear to help cement the Hilux pickup’s reputation for invincible performance. Now, though, Toyota is launching a new line of trucks and SUVs in the US that are even more explicitly targeted at hitting the trails. Meet the TRD Pro Series. Featuring the 4Runner , Tacoma and Tundra , each Pro Series vehicle features TRD-tuned springs with Bilstein shocks, a TRD front skid plate, a TRD shifter, black wheels, branded floor mats and a “TOYOTA” grille badge, the latter of which harkens back to classic models. TRD Pro Series vehicles will be offered in the new Inferno paint color shown above, as well as Black and Super White. The Tundra benefits from softer TRD springs that also provide a two-inch lift and a better ride in the rough, while the truck itself rides on 18-inch wheels with Michelin ORP tires. Each truck gains an extra two inches of wheel travel in front and 1.25 inches in back, while a TRD dual exhaust should generate a nicer sound than the trucks’s standard V8 engine.

Filed under: Budget , Hybrid , Minivan/Van , Sedan , Truck , Recalls , Safety , Toyota When we reported yesterday on Toyota’s stop-sale order of certain 2013 and 2014 models due to an issue with the fabrics on models with heated seats not conforming to flammability regulations, one of our many questions was how many vehicles were affected? More importantly, how many of those cars have already found homes? Kelley Blue Book has the troubling statistics. Every 2013 and 2014 Avalon features heated seats. 6.2-percent of 2013 and 4.5-percent of 2014 Camry sedans, meanwhile, were sold with heated seats. That doesn’t seem as bad as 100-percent of the larger Avalon, until you consider the Camry’s huge volume – the 5.6-percent average still accounts for a lot of cars. Sienna minivans are heavily affected as well, with a total of 37-percent of 2013s and 46-percent of 2014s fitted with butt warmers. The stop-sale only affects 7-percent of 2014 Corolla models, but like the Camry, that number is rather misleading due to the sheer volume of cars Toyota moves. You can see the entire breakdown of percentages by clicking on the inset image. According to Karl Brauer, a senior analyst for KBB, this problem comes at the worst possible time.

Filed under: Chicago Auto Show , Videos , Toyota , Off-Road A mysterious Toyota commercial recently popped up on YouTube teasing a new TRD Pro lineup for the Tundra , Tacoma and 4Runner , and now we’re getting our first official word straight from the automaker on the matter. Courtesy of its Facebook page , Toyota is promising that the TRD Pro models will be introduced on February 6th, ready to “conquer the great outdoors.” This date just so happens to mark the first day of the always-truck-friendly Chicago Auto Show , so while Toyota isn’t saying as much, we’re almost certain the trucks will show up next week in the Windy City. It’s not clear what sort of upgrades TRD Pro brings, but it definitely includes black wheels and a tweaked front end featuring a thick, single-bar grille and bold lettering in place of the stylized Toyota logo (shown above on the Tundra). Scroll down to see the video, and head over to Toyota’s Facebook page to see a teaser image of the 4Runner TRD Pro. Continue reading Toyota TRD Pro lineup coming next week Toyota TRD Pro lineup coming next week originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 Jan 2014 10:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink

Filed under: Minivan/Van , Sedan , Truck , Safety , Toyota , Luxury Toyota has issued a stop-sale order on six of its core models due to concerns about the flammability of certain seat fabrics. The issue rests not with the cloth and leather covers themselves, but with a piece of seat heater beneath them that fails to meet US Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for flame retardancy. There have been no reports of fires or injuries from the affected cars, which include some of Toyota’s biggest volume sellers. 2013 and 2014 Camry , Camry Hybrid , Avalon and Sienna models equipped with heated seats are included in the stop-sale, as are 2014 Tundra pickups and Corolla sedans. The exact number of vehicles with the non-compliant materials are still being tabulated, according to The Detroit Free Press . According to a Toyota spokesman, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been notified, although it remains to be seen if a recall will be issued. Outside of a full recall, though, it’s unclear how Toyota will deal with vehicles equipped with the flammable materials that have already found homes. In the meantime, Toyota is reportedly developing a fix for those vehicle still sitting on dealer lots. UPDATE : John Hanson, National Manager, Environmental, Quality, and Safety Communications for Lexus, has confirmed to Autoblog that no Lexus models are affected by this seat fabric issue. We have not yet heard back from Scion, but we’ll update this post as soon as we do .